LIBE 447B: Fostering Reading Cultures in Schools

There are a number of initiatives that we have been doing in our library learning commons, some being carried over from the previous school year before I arrived in this position. In this post I will share a few of them along with potential changes we could make here and there.

We have an “EZ reading” category present in the library, and I have had some reluctance about continuing with that system. I find that it could be potentially embarrassing for students reading at a slightly lower level if they find themselves needing to go to the “EZ” section to find a book. I also do not want students to feel “restricted” to just this section. The issue I have been facing with this is the labeling - all books in the section are tagged with the EZ classification sticker along the spine, and making broad changes is not an easy task.

I am very supportive of free book choice in the library. I will often let students take books that are at their interest, but potentially above their reading level. Instead of not allowing students to take the book, I will often recommend a second book to go along with the first.

I think this ties in to the much broader discussion of book leveling. This is a huge topic, but one of the potential downsides is having students feel restricted. In the article “Leveled Text: The Good News and the Bad News”, Brabham notes “some teachers described school or classroom collections of books sorted by reading levels that confine students to browsing and reading in a color-coded or level-designated range" and "such practices deny students the opportunity to develop strategies and motivation to locate and immerse themselves in appealing literature" (2002). In this case, it is not a leveled system in the traditional sense (just an EZ section), but it does offer some of the same drawbacks. I was considering a possible reclassification of this section in the future, but for now it remains as it is.

State Library in Stuttgart, Germany. From Stadtbibliothek, Stuttgart, by J. Urdaneta, 2014, https://flic.kr/p/j4xLvx Copyright 2014 by J. Urdaneta.

In another example of fostering a reading culture, our school participated in the “book of the year” vote for our district this school year. Several books are chosen as nominees by a committee, and students get a chance to vote for their favourite book in the month of May. I think this has been a great way to encourage a reading culture centered around these particular books, and gives students common ground to share and discuss their favourites. New to this year was the narrative nonfiction vote, which incorporated nonfiction titles into the mix. I have the links to the info pages for each vote below (the grade 4-7 fiction page has already been updated to next year, but you can find that below as well. Overall, I think this has been a very successful program, and I hope to continue with it in the future.

Links:
Surrey Schools’ Picture Book of the Year Website:
https://sites.google.com/view/surreyreads

Surrey Schools’ Narrative Nonfiction Book of the Year Website:
https://sites.google.com/view/surreyreadsnonfiction

Surrey Schools’ Book of the Year Website:
https://thessboy.weebly.com/


Works Cited

Brabham, E. G., & Villaume, S. K. (2002). Leveled Text: The Good News and the Bad News. Reading Teacher, 55(5), 438-41.

Urdaneta, J. (Photographer). (2014). Stadtbibliothek, Stuttgart. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/j4xLvx